Book Review: The Art of Time in Fiction

The Art of Time in Fiction: As Long as it Takes

Written by Joan Silber, 2009

Summary: One of 15 short handbooks in the “Art Of” series for writers, Silber’s installment breaks down several ways of handling the passage of time in stories — from expanding one moment into multiple pages to collapsing centuries into only one.

Review: Craft writing is a cursed genre. The temptation is to make essays both informative and themselves a work of great writing, leading famous authors to create kitschy frameworks they never used themselves, or wax poetic instead of clearly stating their advice. Moreover, unless a craft essay is dissecting one particular story, it quickly becomes a reading list, with all the action and responsibility removed from the words you already paid to read.

Silber thankfully avoids the first pitfall, but she can’t claw her way out of the second. Most of the book highlights the author’s own favorite works, without enough concrete suggestions. The reader is left with extra assigned reading to fully benefit from this book.

What makes the book worthwhile is Silber giving a name to different types of time. With these labels, writers will have an easier time learning from their own favorite books and intentionally deploying specific methods in their own work.

Rating: 12/20 seconds later